Cracking

by Cheryl
(Moose Creek, ON, Canada)

I have just made my first batch of soap from your web site recipe. I used the Champagne and Roses recipe omitting the coconut milk and micas. It has been in the mold for about 45 minutes, covered with parchment paper in a warm area. I took a peek at it and it has a big crack down the middle. Is this normal?

Answer:

Definitely not. It sounds like the batch has overheated which is surprising so early after pouring the soap.

If the soap has heated up it should look similar to vaseline with a shiny transparentness. This is called the gel phase and the soap should be unwrapped as soon as this stage has been reached.

I'm not sure why your soap overheated so quickly. Make sure the area you are insulating the soap in isn't too warm as this can speed up the saponification.

Check your measurements. Did you use the correct amount of lye? When you omitted the coconut milk, did you replace the amount with water?

When did you add the fragrance oils? They are best added after the soap has reached trace and not with the oils before the lye has been added. Fragrance and essential oils can greatly speed up the saponification process.

Comments for Cracking

This happened to me 2 times when I first started making soap 9 months ago.

A crack appeared in the middle of the soap while it was curing in the mold I used. So I went to bed and the next morning the crack was gone both times.

I figured out that it was the plastic mold I used, the mold I used was a old kraft cheese box they used to make and it was plastic. Perfect size for a soap mold.

Well I've moved on to wooden molds now and that has never happened so I'm assuming it was the mold because it bowed out just a slight bit which caused the crack. Then when the soap cooled the crack disappeared because when anything cools it shrinks so I figured it must of shrank enough to fill in the crack.

The soap turned out beautiful! So that may also be a reason if all your ingredients were done right.

Rating

Over Insulation causes crack.by: Laura

I made soap last night and it had a crack in the middle. I know this was due to overheating as I used a silicone mold which I had put in my wooden soap log to avoid the silicone mold from bowing out. Then I insulated the mold as well (I had a gut feeling I should just cover the top with plastic and not insulate), but I ignored my gut feeling. Sometimes you need to learn a lesson the hard way. I won't make this mistake again. The soap heated up way to quickly.

Rating

another krack reasonby: Mike

As a beginner in soap making, I made mistakes and my third soap batch has cracked in the middle during curing time...at this third batch I put to much powdered green barley ( for green colour ) then usual ... and I think this is the reason of crack.

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